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15 Chris Christie Controversies You Missed

The GWB scandal wasn’t the governor’s first dip in hot water.

By OLIVIA NUZZI

January 09, 2014

Democrats in New Jersey have been celebrating what you might call Chris Christiemas this week. When documents were released strongly suggesting that senior members of Governor Christie’s staff were behind the George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee, the Gov’s ideological opponents breathed a sigh of relief. Christie’s unrivaled political skill and, as Matt Katz outlined here in November, ability to drive a narrative of his choosing, have meant that until now, The Story of Chris Christie As Told By The National Media is one that Christie has largely written himself. As one New Jersey Democratic strategist told me, “the press had basically inaugurated him already.” But Christie’s political career has been riddled with controversies big and small, most of which have been paid little attention by those outside the Garden State. And while perhaps none of these kerfuffles placed anyone in imminent danger quite like Bridgegate did, at least a few of them might have spelled the end of another, less media savvy politician’s career.

Christie has caused traffic before. The Access to the Region’s Core tunnel was a commuter rail project that would have more than doubled the number of trains from New Jersey to Manhattan, easing congestion on the state’s notorious (especially now) highways. After initially endorsing the project, which could have created an estimated 45,000 permanent jobs and 6,000 temporary construction jobs, Christie changed his mind. He claimed that cost estimates for the tunnel had grown to as much as $14 billion. Except, they didn’t. The cost estimates for the project had remained unchanged in the two years before Christie cancelled it.

When Jon Corzine’s 2009 gubernatorial campaign requested public records from Christie’s time as prosecutor, we learned a lot about his lavish spending habits. We also learned about Christie’s generosity: He lent $46,000 to Michele Brown, a top aide in the prosecutor’s office. Christie denied that Brown had done anything to help his gubernatorial campaign, but she had—pushing for a series of high-profile arrests to be made before Christie left his post as U.S. attorney so that he would receive full credit on the campaign trail. Brown now serves as CEO of the Economic Development Authority in Christie’s administration.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Christie awarded a $150 million no-bid contract to AshBritt, a Florida-based firm. Just days after the deal was done, AshBritt donated $50,000 to the Republican Governors Association, of which Christie was then vice chairman.

When a county sheriff was accused of hiring deputies without background checks who then manufactured fake police badges for a “prominent donor to Gov. Chris Christie,” the indicted undersheriff wasn’t worried. He assured an aide that Christie would “have this whole thing thrown out.” Not long after that, the indictments were killed, by someone.

Chris Christie is sort of like the Kate Upton of politics, in that his rise to prominence can be partly attributed to his presence on YouTube. Many of Christie’s Greatest YouTube Hits are videos of him, uh, connecting with voters at his town halls, which more often seem to double as campaign events. The problem? The taxpayers are footing the bill, including more than $12,000 for flags, lighting and other equipment.

In 2002, driving a rented BMW Sedan, U.S. Attorney Christie injured a motorcyclist when he tried to turn the wrong way onto a one-way street. He was not issued a traffic ticket, despite his less-than-stellar driving record, which includes at least six accidents and 13 moving violations.